Contents

Sources

There are several important sources for finding information about immigrants. These nationwide sources include many reference to people who settled in Ohio. The Tracing Immigrant Origins page introduces the principles, search strategies, and additional record types you can use to identify an immigrant ancestor's original hometown.

Pre-Statehood

Pre-statehood settlers of Ohio generally came from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey. Most of the early settlements were along the Ohio River and other waterways. By 1850, immigrants from Germany, Ireland, and England traveled on Zanes's Trace, the National Road, various canals, and Indian trails. One "story map" of Ohio during the period of the American Revolution is:

Railroads were in Ohio by the 1830s. Ohio's population tripled between 1820 and 1840 but only increased by about 50 percent from 1840 to 1860.

Although Ohio had ports of entry on Lake Erie, no passenger lists for ships are available. The majority of the immigrants arrived through eastern ports (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore) and New Orleans. The library has records for each of these ports from 1820 to about 1920 or later. Philadelphia records start in 1800. Records of persons coming from Canada to the United States were not recorded until 1895. For records after 1895, see "Canadian Border Crossings, 1895-1954" in the the United States Emigration and Immigration.

Records and books on the Irish, Germans, Blacks, and American Indians are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under OHIO - MINORITIES. Records of small groups of Alsatians, Russians, Norwegians, and Welsh are listed under OHIO - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.